By the time of the Nine Years' War Augher was important enough to be used as a garrison town by the forces of Lord Mountjoy, Elizabeth I's Lord Deputy of Ireland, to disrupt the army of the Earl of Tyrone.
In 1613, after the war and as part of the Plantation of Ulster an area of 315 acres (127.5 ha) around Augher was given to Sir Thomas Ridgway who had been the Treasurer at War for Ireland. The land grant was strict about what the Undertaker i.e. Ridgway, could do with the land in terms of who had to be settled there and what provisions had to be given to the settlers. Ridgway was successful in developing the town that within two years it awarded a borough charter by James I.
By 1630 the ownership of Augher had passed to Sir James Erskine and during the Irish Rebellion of 1641 the castle was successfully defended against rebel attack. In retaliation the rebels massacred all the English inhabitants in the area.[citation needed]
On the death of Sir James Erskine, Augher Castle and the estate passed into the ownership of the Richardson family who retained the estate well into the 19th century. The castle itself burnt down in 1689[4] but was restored and extended in 1832. Spur Royal Castle stands to this day.
Under the borough charter, Augher returned two members of parliament to the Irish Parliament, a practice that continued until the abolition of the parliament in 1801. The borough was by the time of the abolition of parliament owned by John Hamilton, 1st Marquess of Abercorn and when the parliament was abolished he received £15,000 compensation for the loss of the electoral rights of Augher and Strabane – the other borough he owned.[5] Also abolished at the same time was the civil court established under the charter.
Transport
The old railway station
Augher Railway Station was opened on 2 May 1887 by the Clogher Valley Railway and was closed on 1 January 1942.[6] The original station building became a coffee shop known as Rosamunde's. After a period of being closed, the now Augher Station House Cafe came under new ownership, was refurbished and reopened once more.[7]
Eugene McKenna – former Tyrone Gaelic Football Captain in the 1980s and joint manager from 1999 to 2002 was from Augher. He collected three Ulster Senior Championship medals as a player, and represented his province in the Irish Interprovincial Railway Cup Tournament on several occasions.[2]
